Next Generation of Style: When Design is the Family Business

Jobs like "app designer" and "video game producer" may be trendy career paths, but not every recent graduate is determined to live in the cloud. Young designers are devoting themselves to carrying on their families' established brands, creating artisanal and luxurious home furnishings. Armed with tablets and iPhones, these tech- and fashion-savvy entrepreneurs are preserving tradition while pushing it forward.

A. RUDIN

A. RUDIN

Every Thursday, 30-year-old Spencer Rudin joins his father, Ralph, and his 92-year-old grandfather, Arnold, for lunch near their 120,000-square-foot factory in downtown Los Angeles. Last year they celebrated the centennial of the upholstery and window treatments workshop that Spencer's great-grandfather Morris, a Russian immigrant, founded in 1912.

A. RUDIN

A. RUDIN

Today A. Rudin produces its own collection of classic, tailored upholstered furniture, sold in showrooms in four cities. The company also creates custom furniture for such top interior designers as Jamie Drake and Michael S. Smith, as well as for its biggest client, Las Vegas business magnate Steve Wynn. Spencer, who used to work in the music business, helped to set up A. Rudin's New York showroom, and is now working to re-brand the firm with such projects as the rerelease of designs from the company's archives, including a 1930s tufted, tight-back sofa. "We're about timeless, classic design that will never go out of style," he says. arudin.com